Department of Ergonomics, Central Institute for Labour Protection-National Research Institute, Czerniakowska 16, 00-701 Warsaw, Poland.
Autoimmun Rev. 2010 Feb;9(4):211-5. doi: 10.1016/j.autrev.2009.08.005. Epub 2009 Aug 19.
Cultural differences in experiencing individual stress in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients might be observed. The aim of the study was to assess quality of life and psychological stress (distress) in RA patients, and to evaluate socio-demographic and disease specific variables predicting stress of patients. The study covered 300 Polish and 137 German RA patients. SF-36v2 scale was used to evaluate the patients' health. Psychological stress was defined as the feeling of "social isolation" and "being a burden" as demanding help in everyday activities. In both countries, the mental and physical health of patients deteriorated and about 50% of patients required support in everyday activities. 95% of Polish and 62% of German patients felt rejected from social activities. For the psychological stress perceived, functional capacity class 3 and male gender were shown to be predictive in Polish patients and living in a small town - in German patients. In the Polish group, the tertiary/bachelor level of education was linked with lower distress level. RA has a serious impact on the mental health owing to a great disease burden. Awareness of impact of the disease on quality of life and psychological stress of patients should be considered in routine clinical practice.
在类风湿关节炎（RA）患者中，可能会观察到体验个体压力的文化差异。本研究的目的是评估 RA 患者的生活质量和心理压力（困扰），并评估预测患者压力的社会人口学和疾病特异性变量。该研究涵盖了 300 名波兰和 137 名德国 RA 患者。SF-36v2 量表用于评估患者的健康状况。心理压力被定义为“社会孤立”和“成为负担”的感觉，即需要在日常活动中寻求帮助。在这两个国家，患者的身心健康都恶化了，大约 50%的患者在日常生活中需要支持。95%的波兰患者和 62%的德国患者感到被社会活动排斥。对于感知到的心理压力，波兰患者中功能能力等级 3 和男性被证明是预测因素，而德国患者中居住在小镇则是预测因素。在波兰组中，大专/本科教育程度与较低的困扰程度相关。由于疾病负担沉重，RA 对心理健康有严重影响。在常规临床实践中，应考虑疾病对患者生活质量和心理压力的影响。
